Dirty Dancing

That was the summer of 1963when everybody called me Baby, and it didnt occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldnt wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought Id never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellermans. A deep excitement at hearing these lines is where my beloved Roger Ebert and I cross swords. From a well of discontentment that could only belong to someone forced to watch every movie in existence, he enthusiastically disses Dirty Dancings Idiot Plot, and moans that the dancing is over-choreographed. Im not without gripes, but who other than Cynthia Rhodes (Flashdance, Staying Alive) couldve played the troubled Penny, and why should she have to hide her talent? Its not like 80s popular cinema is remembered for its subtletythe producers had the nerve to litter a killer soundtrack, which includes perhaps the most iconic use of the Ronettes Be My Baby alongside crap like Patrick Swayzes Shes Like the Wind. (PG-13) RACHEL SHIMP